[Spiked]

Well Hello There! As Far as online, I don't like to use my real name, so I go with Spike. Sorry for the Walls of text, but if this an introduction to something good, I might as well introduce myself well!

I'm Fairly young at 22, and have grown up among an artistic family, but I've only really been introduced to the joy of photography recently. I've been animating for a long time, drawing cartoons even longer, and earlier on in 2021 I got a job with a good friend working in animation. Although the Job doesn't inherently entail photography, I'm pretty sure it's what started me down this rabbit hole:

With the project we're working on we use a lot of 3D scanned and Photo-scanned 3D objects. You can find these online, a lot of them even for free, but you won't always find what you need. Thus You might want to do some yourself, so I learned how, but the results from a phone's photos were not the best. Big surprise, so for the first time in a long time, I started shopping for a camera. It's funny looking back at that time, probably only 9 months ago, and realizing how much I've learned about cameras. I started by just seeing what was for sale in stores, looking at reviews and buyers guides online, and I asked my boss what he would suggest to start with. He recommended the The Canon EOS M6ii, but that's quite a bit more than I can afford so I turned back to looking online.

For a while I was primarily concerned with Video Quality thinking I might want to dabble in VFX. I was going back and forth over Sony's a6000 and Canon's M series, window shopping for a few months, but unable to save up enough money to pull the trigger on one. After a while I lost interest, but I learned a lot about cameras in the process, and I'm glad I did.

I joined my Mom on a trip to an estate sale in late September to help her with bringing home a desk, and I was hoping to find a couple records I might like. In one room I ended up finding the LP of "2001 a Space Odyssey" and in another room I found this:


I did not know what a Ricoh was, but I liked it: The hard edges, the utilitarian design, and the fact that it had obviously been well cared for. Plus the camera was only $15, and I knew the glass was worth at least that much. My mom has a lot more experience with film cameras than I do and she thought it was a good deal too, so she let me borrow $30 to buy it and an 80-200mm macro lens that was with it.

I started to do some research on the camera and the lenses I got with it, and it turns out they're Pentax Mount! Funny enough, from the 90s to the late 00s my mom shot photos of us using a PZ-70 that she loved, and when that camera died on her she bought an MZ-10.

So it turns out we have a lot of Pentax glass and I started to look up more about them. I also I started repaired the 40 year old sealing foam on the Ricoh KR-5 and started to shoot film photos with it.

When I was researching old Pentax lenses I found some cool YouTube channels that cover used gear and show off how capable it still is, how high the quality of photos are on cameras even 15 years old. That honestly helped me realize that when I was window shopping before, I was being nit-picky about features that wouldn't even matter for my work; I don't use video at all, and even if I did I could get a camera from 2010 and have more than enough megapixel power to suite my needs, and it would be a ton of fun.

So now I began to look at used cameras, old reviews, and new reviews on older cameras. And since I've already got Pentax glass I might as well take advantage of the mount, Which leads me here!

I'm waiting around for The Holidays to pass and boost the used market in order to score a good deal on a used K-70, but in the meantime I've been having fun shooting photos on a point and shoot I bought and forgot in 2016. I'll have to post some of those photos soon.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! And I look forward to using the forum!

[Unregistered User 8]

Hey Spiked, really good introduction, thanks. Welcome from Australia.

Welcome. Sounds like more than a "getting into" kind of thing - you're "well in", as Alice thought as she plummetted. And as to that "fairly young" thing, well, to some folks, anyone under forty is a still a child.

[redpit]

Welcome onboard from Greece. Nice story, I hope you find a K-70 and start getting all the joy those old lenses can offer.

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome to the forum from the Highlands of Scotland

[nonpigliounoshoot]

Welcome on board

[robgski]

Welcome, I look forward to seeing the images you produce.

[BigMackCam]

What a great first post, Spike - thanks for the introduction! It's always nice welcoming someone new to the hobby, this community and the Pentax family. 22 and just starting out with Pentax, eh? You've so much fun ahead. I envy you

[VictorDA]

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! And I look forward to using the forum!

Welcome to the forums, very nice story to read.
I hope you can soon find a nicely-used K-70 to complete your kit
A suggestion: depending on your priorities (and budget), you might also look for a used K-5IIs or K-3, these higher-tier bodies are older but maybe more reliable and offering some additional perks! Check out the reviews here...

[troenaas]

Welcome to the forum ...

[jab2980]

Welcome!

[ChristianRock]

Thanks for that nice introduction, and welcome to our group of mostly well-behaved and helpful Pentax users...

If I may offer a suggestion, since you are on a budget, look into the older, 2005-2008 CCD sensor cameras... CCDs are a bit of a different technology than what is used today (which is called CMOS sensors) and they do offer a different look. I personally like the 10MP bodies as I think the CCD technology was really mature at the time (except when it comes to low light shooting but there's ways around that). 10MP I feel is enough even for large prints, when you intend that the people will look at the image as a whole.

Not that you can't get good results with newer CMOS cameras - but I feel that there's something special on these older sensors, and these cameras can often be found for less than 100 dollars!

[Photos-by-Chas]

Welcome to the forum, Spike. You have quite a resume for a youngster and it seems you're headed in the right direction. I have a K-70 which I really like. With your collection of older glass, you could do many great photos with the K-70. Of course there are several other models of Pentax cameras that would fill the bill for you. Good luck in your choice. Look forward to seeing some of your work.

[Bob 256]

Much welcome spiked! A great introduction and you have some very interesting camera history (Pentax appears to have been in your family DNA). There used to be a good number of photographic stores in the Seattle area but I imagine that has all changed now. Still, it's a well photographed city and there must be some outlet for used equipment in the area. As your interest grows, you might find a good resource in used gear if it exists.

An aside: Hang onto that 2001 Album. I remember going to at least two showings of 2001 at the time it came out, at the Seattle Cinerama theater (all the lobby staff were dressed up in 2001 garbs with the snack bar gals wearing those 2001 PAN AM hats). As the three camera process had already died off, they used 70mm film and two projectors with the official Cinerama auditorium & screen, but the presentation blew your socks off. That album is a keeper tough the camera find might be more valuable (at least to you).

Enjoy the forum and return often.

[Spiked]

Not that you can't get good results with newer CMOS cameras - but I feel that there's something special on these older sensors, and these cameras can often be found for less than 100 dollars!

That’s something I do think would be fun, I think in the future I’d love to try using one for sure. Right now in interest of speed and scanning power I think my budget allows for the k-70, I’m especially interested in the pixel shift mode